Guidance Note Research Articles

What are we saving? Tracing governing knowledge and truth discourse in global COVID-19 policy responses.

As the world went suddenly into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, sending individuals to their homes and shutting businesses and institutions, the closing of schools posed big problems. The majority of the world’s children were out of school, leading to the longest sustained period of school closures in history. We saw educators turning towards responses not aimed at collegial and community-engaged strategies for education in an emergency but at online learning cast as education/business as usual. This study explores the logic driving this global response through analyses of the documents released by three key global education actors: (1) the OECD and its paper A Framework to Guide Education Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020; (2) UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition #LearningNeverStops; and (3) the World Bank’s Guidance Note on Education Systems’ Response to COVID-19; and Guidance Note: Remote Learning and COVID-19. The authors of this article draw on Carol Bacchi’s approach to poststructural policy analysis to make visible the key concepts and binaries used within policy texts and to understand the “technologies of saving” that were invoked in each policy response, locating the education programmes, activities and actors within knowledge practices in educational reform. This article explores the World Bank, OECD and UNESCO responses using an analysis of knowledge harmonisation and difference among these institutions as well as their location as key norm-setters and governing actors in the field of education. The authors argue that all three responses privilege private-sector providers of digital technology. The consequence of these responses is that technologies of saving have centred on privatised, corporate edu-business and edu-tech aimed at online education delivery, bringing significant risks for the erasure of local knowledges. The authors’ study suggests that local policymakers, including community-based and national actors, must be invited into the discussion to envision other possibilities and to name the potential destructiveness embedded in the international organisations’ actions.

Policies to Promote Angel Investment in Startups in Some Countries in Southeast Asia

Angel investor plays an important role in the startup ecosystem, and is a factor that fills the capital gap for startups and also brings many benefits to startups when they can accompany and support expertise, management and consulting for startups. In the early stage of establishment and development of the startup ecosystem, the role of governments was important in issuing policies and providing solutions to promote angel investment. For Vietnam, encouraging angel investors to invest in startups is an important policy in developing the startup ecosystem. With research on policies to promote angel investment in startups in some countries in Southeast Asia including: Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, the article summarizes some experiences to promote angel investment in startups in Vietnam.
 Keyword:
 Angel investor, startup.
 References
 [1] Investopedia, Angel Investor, https://investopedia.com/terms/a/angelinvestor.as, 2020 (accessed on 03/9/2020).[2] Startup SG, Overview Singapore’s Startup Ecosystem, https://www.startupsg.gov.sg/, 2020 (accessed on 03/9/2020).[3] WTO and International Trade Center - VCCI, research report: Mechanism to support Innovative Startups: International Experience – Proposed solutions for Vietnam, https://wtocenter.vn/an-pham/13265-study-mechanism-to-support-innovative-startups-international-experience---proposed-solutions-for-vietnam, 2017 (accessed on 03/9/2020).[4] Kam, W.P. Overview of angel investing in Singapore, Tech in Asia, https://www.techinasia.com/overview-of-angel-investing-in-singapore/, 2011 (accessed on 03/9/2020).[5] Enterprise Singapore, SEEDS Capital - Enterprise Singapore, https://www.enterprisesg.gov.sg/financial-assistance/investments/investments/seeds-capital/overview, 2020 (accessed on 03/9/2020).[6] Guide Me Singapore, Singapore Tax Deduction Scheme for Angel Investors, https://www.guidemesingapore.com/business-guides/taxation-and-accounting/personal-tax/tax-deduction-scheme-for-angel-investors, 2020 (accessed on 03/9/2020).[7] Startup Angels, Bangkok Startup Angels, https://startupangels.com/market/bangkok/, 2017 (accessed on 03/9/2020).[8] Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bangkok, Startup Ecosystem Thailand, www.nederlandenu.nl›startup-thailand-factsheet, 2019 (accessed on 03/9/2020).[9] DFDL, Thailand Tax Update: New Tax Incentives for Angel Investors, Jonathan Blaine, https://www.dfdl.com/resources/legal-and-tax-updates/thailand-tax-update-tax-incentive-for-angel-investor/, 2018 (accessed on 03/9/2020).[10] Ajagbe Akintunde Musibau, Ismail Kamariah, The Financing of Early Staged Technology Based Firms in Malaysia, Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research (2013) 18 (5): 697-707, DOI: 10.5829/idosi.mejsr.2013.18.5.11747[11] Malaysian Business Angels Network, 2018 Annual Report, https://mban.com.my/wp-content/uploads/ 2019/05/Annual-Report.pdf, 2019 (accessed on 03/9/2020).[12] Malaysian Business Angels Network, Angel Tax Incentive, https://mban.com.my/angel-tax-incentive/, 2020 (accessed on 03/9/2020).[13] Malaysia Business Angel Network, Angel Investor Application Explanatory Notes and Guidance Note, https://mban.com.my/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Angel-Application_ Explanatory-Notes.pdf, 2017 (accessed on 03/9/2020).
 

Guidance Note For Developing Government Local Currency Bond Markets

This guidance note was prepared by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group staff under a project undertaken with the support of grants from the Financial Sector Reform and Strengthening Initiative, (FIRST).The aim of the project was to deliver a report that provides emerging market and developing economies with guidance and a roadmap in developing their local currency bond markets (LCBMs). This note will also inform technical assistance missions in advising authorities on the formulation of policies to deepen LCBMs.

The Metaphoric Perceptions of the Prospective Turkish Language and Literature Teachers, Taking Pedagogical Formation Education about “Bilingualism”

The concept of bilingualism is gaining prominence in our daily lives due to political and social reasons. The fact that bilingualism has become an undeniable fact requires investigation of it in educational sciences. How prospective teachers perceive the concept of bilingualism will fill a gap in the literature in terms of understanding educational practices. In this context, the purpose of this study is to determine the perceptions of the Turkish language and literature teacher candidates who have received formation education about the concept of "bilingualism" through metaphors. About 92 Turkish language and literature teacher candidates, studying at Çukurova University, form the research group of the study, for which qualitative research design is adopted. As a data collection tool, each student was given a guidance note with the expression of “bilingualism is like… because…” and the blanks in this guidance note were asked to be filled in. The metaphors obtained in the study were collected in different categories. Content analysis technique was used to analyze the data. According to the results of the research, it was determined that Turkish language and literature teacher candidates who received formation education had positive perceptions about the concept of bilingualism in a total of 12 concept categories.

Application of life cycle carbon assessment for a sustainable building design: a case study in the UK

ABSTRACT In the construction industry, a large amount of carbon dioxide is emitted, due to the embodied and operational carbon. RICS Guidance note shows the stages producing the most carbon dioxide is the operational stage and the second significant area is the production stage. Recent studies have investigated reducing the operational emissions, however there is limited research on the embodied carbon. To achieve climate targets by 2050, all operational emissions need to be phased out along with reductions in embodied carbon. This paper aims to analyze the carbon life cycle (LCA) of the case study building in the UK. Further implementing low carbon & clean technologies have been considered to reduce the embodied and operational carbon. Current state of the art carbon assessment is utilized incorporating methodologies such as ‘Cradle to grave’ from ‘British standards’ in conjunction with ‘RICS Guidance note’ and ‘RICS Professional statement.’ To measure the embodied and operational carbon using the ‘cradle to grave’ process, requires selecting a case study building and collecting related input data to process calculations such as construction materials and energy consumption. Results conclude that the operational stage is the largest CO₂ contributor of the whole lifecycle, therefore PV Solar panels were chosen to reduce CO₂ emissions. The product stage was the second most significant CO₂ contributor therefore low carbon strategies, such as use of recycled steel, light weight brick, and SCM’s for mortar and concrete, were selected. Re-calculation of the embodied and operational carbon of the building after implementing the low carbon strategies and clean technology comparing to initial results show reductions in CO₂ emissions by 22% creating a low carbon building. Therefore, this paper brings awareness and guidance globally to clients, building designers, and the government to design sustainably using suitable low carbon solutions in all construction projects, leading to a low carbon future.

Closing well: national and international humanitarian workers\u2019 perspectives on the ethics of closing humanitarian health projects

Project closure is a core feature of humanitarian action. However, how decisions to end projects are made, and how closure is planned and implemented, has implications for upholding ethical commitments, and can have positive or negative consequences for affected communities, local stakeholders, and humanitarian organizations and their staff. To better understand the ethical dimensions of closing humanitarian projects, we undertook an investigation of national and international humanitarian workers’ experiences.Guided by interpretive description methodology, we conducted an exploratory qualitative study with two rounds of semi-structured interviews. Four national and five international staff of non-governmental organizations with experience of humanitarian health project closure took part. The participants had diverse professional roles and disciplinary backgrounds. All participants took part in the first round of interviews which focused on experiences and perceptions of ethics and project closure. Analysis of these interviews contributed to the development of a draft “ethics guidance note.” Five of the participants took part in the second round of interviews which focused on receiving feedback on the draft guidance note. We used constant comparative techniques and a recursive approach to data collection and analysis. In this article, we draw on both rounds of interviews to present findings related to how participants understood and experienced ethical responsibilities, challenges, and opportunities for humanitarian project closure.We identified six recurrent ethical concerns highlighted by interviewees regarding closure of humanitarian projects: respectfully engaging with partners and stakeholders, planning responsively, communicating transparently, demonstrating care for local communities and staff during project closure, anticipating and acting to minimize harms, and attending to sustainability and project legacy. We present these ethical concerns according to the temporal horizon of humanitarian action, that is, arising across five phases of a project’s timeline: design, implementation, deciding whether to close, implementing closure, and post-closure.This exploratory study contributes to discussions concerning the ethics of project closure by illuminating how they are experienced and understood from the perspectives of national and international humanitarian workers. The interview findings contributed to the development of an ethics guidance note that aims to support project closures that minimize harms and uphold values, while being mindful of the limits of ethical ideals in non-ideal circumstances.

Belize

Cybersecurity risk is embedded in the CBB’s supervisory framework, but additional enhancements are needed to formalize guidance and develop more intensive supervisory practices. Supervisory expectations on cybersecurity are presented in an informal guidance note, which should be formalized into regulation to ensure enforceability; and an IT/cybersecurity supervisory manual should be developed to promote effective and consistent practices. With its principle-based guidance note, the CBB highlights its priorities in strengthening the cybersecurity posture of Belizean financial institutions. The principles are an appropriate interpretation of international best practices on incident prevention, detection, response, and recovery measures, adapted to the cyber maturity of the Belizean financial institutions, and can be used as a foundation for the formalized guidelines. The manual could emphasize the review of cybersecurity strategies, policies, and responsibility specifications and should address obtaining assurance on the effectiveness of the financial institutions’ processes for cyber risk identification, assessment, and mitigation.

Technical Guidance Note Level 3 No. 1: Designing for torsion in open-section steel elements

This Technical Guidance Note has been withdrawn pending revision and is currently unavailable to download/purchase.

Incoterms®2020의 주요 개정내용과 실무상 유의점에 관한 연구

ICC has published the eighth edition of Incoterms called the language of international trading, Incoterms®2020, as of 10.Sep.2019. This rules will be valid as of 1.Jan.2020. The major revisions of this rules are ① Change Headings to a horizontal format ② Replacing ‘Guidance Note’with‘Explanatory Notes for Users’③ Change in the three-letter initials for DAT to DPU ④ Permission of B/L with an on-board notation under FCA rules ⑤ Different levels of insurance cover in CIF and CIP ⑥ Arranging for carriage with seller’s or buyer’s own means of trasport in FCA, DAP, DPU and DDP ⑦ Extended application of a procurement ⑧ Reflecting banks' trade financing practices. The purpose of this paper is to present several implications to practitioners in the use of the rules by looking at what the main features of IncotermsⓇ2020 and main contents by rule. In addition, It is to provide a study with timeliness so that woking-level officials can respond to new evolution of internation trade.

Profit Equalization Reserve and Investment Risk Reserve: Issues and its Application

The Islamic Financial Institution (IFI) is a unique financial institution which has special characteristics, maqāsid, worldview, risk, and opportunity. One of the methods used to mitigate the unique risk of Islamic banks is the Profit Equalization Reserve (PER) and Investment Risk Reserve (IRR). However, there are some issues related to PER and IRR. Some issues have been identified in the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) guidance note, including profit smoothing and other issues yet to be discussed. This paper tries to observe issues related to PER and IRR and their application in some Islamic banks using content analysis method on their annual reports and/or financial statements. The paper concludes that PER and IRR will bring bigger issues and risks to Islamic banks. This leads the writer to suggest that the regulator reconsider its permissibility. In addition, the paper also finds that the concept of PER and IRR has low acceptance among Islamic banks.

Measuring the Balassa-Samuelson effect: A guidance note on the RPROD database

This guidance note outlines the construction and contents of RPROD. This new database developed by CEPII complements the EQCHANGE database, by providing additional measures of the Balassa-Samuelson effect. RPROD delivers the following indicators computed for each country included in the database, and relative to its main trading partners: (i) GDP per capita, (ii) labor productivity, (iii) consumer-price-to-producer-price ratio, (iv) three-sectors’ value-added deflator, and (v) six-sectors' value-added deflator. These different measures are publicly available (http://www.cepii.fr/CEPII/fr/bdd_modele/presentation.asp?id=34), with the aim to contribute to the investigation of the Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis, and to the comparison of estimated equilibrium real exchange rates and currency misalignments across alternative proxies of this effect.

Technical Guidance Note (Level 2, No. 23): Design of triangular timber trusses

A specialist contractor design item that is usually outside the responsibility of the structural engineer. However, in order to assess a truss design, the engineer needs to understand the theory underpinning it.

Technical Guidance Note (Level 2, No. 22): Workmanship and quality inspections by the structural engineer during construction

This note covers the inspection of structural elements typically present within buildings during their construction and/or alteration phases.

Phase I open-label trial of intraperitoneal paclitaxel in combination with intravenous cisplatin and oral capecitabine in patients with advanced gastric cancer and peritoneal metastases (IPGP study): study protocol

IntroductionGastric cancer with peritoneal metastasis has a poor outcome. Only a few studies have specifically investigated this group of patients. Japanese researchers have shown that chemotherapy with intraperitoneal paclitaxel (IPP)...

Technical Guidance Note Level 2, No. 21: Design and detailing of base plates to steel columns

The primary means by which steel-framed structures transmit vertical loads into their foundations is via base plates. A base plate spreads the load from a column into the foundation. This Technical Guidance Note describes the design and detailing of such plates. The note only covers simple connection base plates, i.e. those that do not transmit a bending moment. Two types of action are applied to such plates: compressive axial forces; and, in some cases, shear forces due to lateral forces within braced bays.

A leading role for the EU in drafting criminal law powers? Use of the Council of Europe for policy laundering

In light of the ongoing story on the regulatory steps towards electronic evidence and transnational production orders, civil rights organizations have expressed both alarm and astonishment on the regulatory initiatives in the Council of Europe regarding transnational production orders. Member states of the European Union (EU) engage actively in soft law entrepreneurship by allowing themselves to obtain directly from service providers subscriber and other communications content. This has not only been done domestically through national laws but likewise on a multilateral level as EU member states are now seen drawn towards the Council of Europe. Within said Council of Europe, member states are now enabled to stretch the extraterritorial powers exercised by their law enforcement authorities in obtaining electronic evidence through a controversial Guidance Note and soon, a Second Additional Protocol. Interestingly, throughout these developments, the EU remained passive but as of late, has come up with proposals for the European Production and Preservation Orders, among others. The mixture of alarm and astonishment among civil liberties representatives about the decision making procedures at the level of the Council of Europe can be best understood in a broader regulatory context of policy enterpreneurship, rent-seeking behaviour and, overall, rational choice institutionalism. Comparing the Council of Europe with the EU, the structure of the former makes it the more attractive venue for policy actors such as law enforcement authorities to maximize their benefits at the least amount of costs. Being competitors in policymaking vis-à-vis cooperation in criminal matters, the EU can however lose its sociopolitical ascendancy over time as an institutional venue to discuss cooperation matters. In light of this, one should not forget that two Europes coexist. These coexisting realities are now being used to the advantage of laundering policies, testing which forum would maximize benefits the most. These developments should caution us that there might be a systemic failure in ensuring safeguards in criminal investigations are always in place.

Technical Guidance Note Level 2, No. 20: Design and detailing of lintels in masonry walls

A significant-sized opening in a masonry wall will always require a lintel of some sort to bridge over it. A lintel is considered to be a secondary structural element whose purpose is to support the masonry that arches over the opening. It does this by spreading the vertical load of the masonry – and any other vertical loads being applied to the wall – away from the opening to either side of it. This Technical Guidance Note offers advice on the different types of lintel that are available, the detailing requirements of lintels, and the way in which they are designed.

Technical Guidance Note Level 2, No. 19: Design and detailing of windposts to masonry walls

This Technical Guidance Note provides guidance on the design and detailing of windposts relating to their incorporation into building structures.

Establishing and Implementing the Building Blocks of a Country’s National Welding Capability (NWC)

Since its foundation in 1948, IIW has been involved in numerous activities with outcomes which are able to significantly improve the quality of life of people through the optimum use of welding technology. In 1996, as an outcome of a meeting with UNIDO in 1994, the IIW Board of Directors Working Group Regional Activities and Liaison with Developing Countries (WGRA), introduced the unique IIW WeldCare Programme to assist developing countries to improve their national welding capabilities particularly through the establishment and/or growth of a not-for-profit national welding organisation. Since then, IIW WGRA has assisted many countries freely through the holding of IIW technology innovation workshops, governance workshops and International Congresses as well as providing them with information, experiences and documentation on successful NWC activities particularly from experiences in South Africa, Australia and globally. In 2013, as part of the IIW WeldCare Programme, IIW WGRA created a project “Establishing a National Welding Capability (NWC)”. Several very successful NWC workshops have been held since then and 10 IIW Guidance Notes (GNs) are now being produced to assist not only developing countries but also developed countries which could utilise them to improve their national welding capabilities. The paper focuses on explaining the reasons for, and huge significance of, this IIW project, its progress, expected outcomes and in particular the 10 IIW Guidance Notes as NWC Building Blocks. IIW members will be given the opportunity to become involved and contribute their experiences, successes, information and documentation freely to be used in the IIW Guidance Notes for the benefit of all.

Technical Guidance Note (Level 2, No. 18): Design of unreinforced masonry retaining walls

This Technical Guidance Note is intended to act as an aide to those seeking to design an unreinforced masonry retaining wall. Following this guidance will prevent cracking and ensure that the wall performs as originally intended. The note will not cover the design of reinforced masonry retaining walls and variants of that form. Such reinforcement typically strengthens the wall itself against induced bending stresses and the wall’s geometry will therefore be somewhat different to that of an unreinforced retaining wall. The note will also not discuss the applied actions that a retaining wall will be subjected to, nor the construction of retaining walls. These subjects have previously been covered in the following Technical Guidance Notes: Level 1, No. 8: Derivation of loading to retaining structures and Level 1, No. 33: Retaining wall construction. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the content of both these notes.